The journey goes on

I landed in Portland exactly one week ago. I thought I was coming home, but during the course of the week I had to admit to myself that the journey has not yet ended. I am in Portland, staying at Marianne's house until my own house will be fixed up and I don't anticipate moving in before the holidays. This means that it will be many more weeks before I am in my own home and can really resume my life - whatever that will be.

New York was another good transition between Switzerland and the permanent return to Portland. Unfortunately I didn't get to spend much time with Eric, as he now has a full time job. Still, we had evenings, and, sweet and kind as ever, he accompanied me to the subway to JFK. I used my time in New York to start organizing my Portland life. Got a prepaid cell phone, which gives me a reprieve on deciding on a cell phone plan. Spent hours surfing the web looking at cars, subscribed to Consumer Report to ensure that whichever car I am getting will not be a lemon - and I narrowed it down to 3 cars, which I test drove this week. Today I decided which car I am going to get and now I am working on getting the best possible deal and finding the cash to pay for it - for, because I don't have a job, I don't qualify for any kind of financing. Once I have wheels my life will become much simpler and I'll be much more autonomous. For now I have been depending on my friends and on my feet for transportation.

I landed in Portland on Friday at 6pm, and on Saturday morning at 10am I met with a contractor at my house. The house is in reasonably good order, except for the yard, which has reverted to a jungle. The bids for the various jobs are coming in, and by next week I should have an idea of how much fixing up the house will cost me. I feel we are off to a good start. I like my contractor, a woman who actually is listening to what I want. It also is wonderful to have a general contractor, as opposed to dealing myself with all the various tradesmen, as I had to do with my 2004 remodel.

So, on one hand I am feeling at home, and on the other, I am living out of a suitcase. My belongings are right here, but still not accessible. I miss warm sweaters, the muffin tins to bake hiking snacks, the gardening tools. Though I will retrieve these as soon as I have a car. I intend to spend as much time as possible at my house, starting to prune, and trim and yank... I have started to change my address back to my own house - an important step to release my friend Ernst from his mailbox responsibilities and to reclaim my independence on that front as well.

This week also has been very busy on the social side. Marianne is now partly retired, and we already have spent more time together than during my previous month-long stays. We did a great hike, leaving on foot from her house, up and down the forested hills to the north - in the rain. Indeed, this is full immersion into the Pacific-Northwest. The rains started the day after my arrival and I am yet to see the sun. On the plus side, I already witnessed spawning salmon, a sight which always fills me with awe.

On Monday I returned to my aquarobics class, receiving a warm welcome from the pool ladies. On Tuesday I went to yoga, to the studio, the teacher and the yogini I have been with for over 10 years. It was good both for my body and my soul, and Hannah's soup after the class was soothing on all levels. Wednesday night was the monthly meeting of the High Desert Committee. Borden took me car shopping, allowed me to treat him for dinner, took me to the meeting and drove me back home afterwords. I don't know how much time I'll be able to spend volunteering since I don't yet know what my life will entail, but I like being pulled back into the community and the opportunity to once again become an active member. Last night was Italian book club, a group as vibrant as ever. The reading was preceded by a soup as heart-warming as the hugs.

Since I am impatient to move back into my house and lead an independent life, but since it won't happen for quite a while, I decided that the best way to deal with it was to consider the next few weeks as part of the adventure, part of the journey, part of the Lemonade Project. I thought that this post would be the last one, but in view of the above, there will be one more when I move back into the house. I will not bore you with the ups and downs of my re-entry into my Portland life in this blog. However, I am looking forward to resuming a personal relationship with my readers in the Portland area, and a personal email correspondence with my European friends. I have some 500 unanswered emails in my inbox, accumulated during the many weeks during which I did not have regular access to the internet. Please be patient - I will get to it in time.

Thank you to my friends who have made this week bearable: Marianne for the generous sharing of the house, Rachel, Borden and Jon for the help with car buying; Hannah and Cathey for soups, Jody, Ric and Sandy for rides. Thank you Martin for the invitation to dinner and thank you all for the welcome home messages and calls. You are the ones who make it worthwhile coming back. I am looking forward to living once again in your community.